Method of combining and utilizing steam and air



R. E. ROGERS 8a J. BLACK. AIR AND STEAM ENGINE.

No. 32,149. Patented Apr. 23, 1861.

R. E. ROGERS AND JAMES BLACK, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

METHODOF COMBINING AND UTILIZING STEAM AND AIR.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 32,149, dated April 23, 1861.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, R. E. ROGERS and JAMES BLACK, of the city ofPhiladelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Combining Air and Steam for Actuating Engines; andwe do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, reference being had to the accompanying'drawingsand to the letters and marks thereon.

Atmospheric air and steam, and air and water heated either by the air orotherwise to the vaporizing point, and air and the gaseous products ofcombustion and steam, have been mingled or associated, and used as amotive power. Desirable as is the result of turning to profitableaccount the eX- pansive and elastic power of so cheap and safe amaterial as air, yet none of the devices for employing it, either aloneor in conjunction with steam, have hitherto been productive of any largeamount of effective power, when compared to the dimensions of the engineused. In all instances when these elements have been used, the air, orother gaseous material, has been fed into the steam or water by means ofa force-pump or airpump driven by the power of the engine. So much,therefore, of the power of the engine as is consumed in forcing in theair, is necessarily lost; and this is the serious objection and chiefdrawback to the employment, in the ordinary way, of air in connectionwith steam. By our invention, which is self-acting in its operation, theair is introduced and commingled with the steam, through the agency andby the power of the current of the steam itself on its way from thegenerator to the motive cylinder of the engine. Our invention is basedupon the principle that a current of steam, air, or other fluid bodyissuing from an orifice will carry along with it any other fluid bodysurrounding it.

The drawings forming part of this specification show the means forcarrying out our invention attached to the steam pipe between thethrottle valve and the regulating valve, or between the boiler and thevalve chest.

Figure l of these drawings is a top view of a horizontal boiler andhorizontal engine with. the usual parts and pieces belonging thereto,and with a set of means for exhibiting one way of using our invention.Fig. 2 is a side view of the same boiler. and

Valve, (g) the regulator valve, (72,) the valve chest, (2') the valverod, (is) the eccentric of the valve rod on the shaft, (Z) the workingcylinder, the exhaust pipe, (n) the connecting rod or pitman, (p) thecrank of the main or power shaft, and (q) that shaft.

In Fig. 3 is shown an arrangement which exhibits the principle of ourmethod-the subject of this specificationwhich arrangement we have founda good one, though it is only one of many which may be devised forcarrying out our invention.

For the sake of convenient reference, and because of the peculiar soundwhich is produced in it by the swift ingress of air during each halfstroke of the engine, not unlike that of loud breathing or inhaling, wedesignate the device an aspirator.

(1) represents a small cylinder having couplings (s) for keeping inproper juxtaposition the jet (t) and the receiving mouth (a) of thepipes. To the side of this cylinder is attached a short tube (2;) havingan inlet chamber (w) in which is a flap valve (00) or its equivalent.This inlet chamber has an air opening ('y). p

The operation of the invention is as follows: Vhen the steam is let onfrom the boiler (66) it passes from the jet (t) into the mouth (a) ofthe receiving tube and onward to the engine with such a velocity as,notwithstanding the resistance offered by the piston, to invite or drawin through (3 w, v,) a large amount of air. To this air with which itintimately mingles while conveying it to the working cylinder, itimparts a portion of its heat and thereby develops an available elasticforce, greater than that lost, by the steam itself in the act ofproducing the expansion of the air. The quantity of air which the steamis capable of thus drawing in and carrying forward to the work ingcylinder of the engine varies with circumstances, such as the tension ofthe steam and the size, form, and relative position of the orifices andother parts of the aspirator. In some instances it has been found bymeasurement to be nearly equal at each half stroke of the engine to avolume corresponding to one-half the capacity of the working cylinder.The effective power obtained from the engine by this automaticintroduction of the airestimating it by the increased velocity of thepiston, all other conditions remaining the same-has been found greatlyaugmented beyond that resulting from steam when used alone. The valve(w) in the inlet chamber (to), it will be noticed, opens the steam willhave greater resistance to meet, and were not this valve in the inletchamber, for a moment the steam would pass out through the chamber, butas the pressure will come upon the valve, it will be forced outwardclosing the opening (y) thus chambering the steam and allowing theinitial pressure-the pressure of the steam in the generator-to overcomethe additional or unusual resistance, and then the valve will drop inand the flow of air be resumed.

The invention is applicable to low pressure orhumid steam as well as tohigh pressure and to super-heated steam; to every character of boiler orgenerator, and to every class of engine.

The means for carrying out the invention can be placed at any pointbetween the boiler and the working cylinder, or may even be connecteddirectly with or upon the cylinder itself whenever its arrangements ofvalves, ports and passages will allow the device to be there placed. Theinvention may likewise be used, wherever any kind of steam generator isuseful for any purpose whatever.

here described. Modifications embracing the same principle or method maybe used. The pipe conveying the steam may be arranged in relation to theair surrounding it or admitted to it in various ways; and the steam pipeitself may have modifications and be different from what is shown in thedrawings. The steam pipe may surround the air pipe, the annular spacebetween the two being the track of the steam, or the steam pipe may bewithin a pipe which has perforations for admitting the air, and thedimensions and relative position of the tubes and orifices of theaspirator may be varied or regulated by adjusting screws or otherappropriate contrivances. Neither do we limit ourselves to the use of asingle aspirating system for the purposes herein specified. Two or moreof the combinations may be associated with each other, and be made,under certain circumstances to cooperate advantageously, as we haveascertained by experience. I

Of the advantages of combining air and steam for actuating engines it isnot necessary here to speak in detail, as our invention does not extendto the broad ground of their joint use, but is limited to the specialtrack here pointed out.

What we consider as new and original is the method of using air andsteam as a 1notive power; and we may state that we have clearlyascertained that by this method of intimately combining or blending theair and steam, the latent caloric of the steam, to say nothing of itssensible caloric is rendered remarkable availablein expanding the air,whose specific heat or capacity for caloric is known to be low.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patentis 1. The method of combining and utilizing steam and air herein setforth.

2. The valve (00), or its equivalent, in combination with the otherparts of the aspirator, as described.

R. E. ROGERS. JAMES BLAGKZ l/Vitnesses: I

' WM. I. SMITH,

WM. THoMPsoN.

